Reviewing Verve Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VERV) and RenovoRx (NASDAQ:RNXT)

Verve Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VERV) and RenovoRx (NASDAQ:RNXT) are both small-cap medical companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, valuation, dividends, profitability, institutional ownership, earnings and analyst recommendations.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent recommendations and price targets for Verve Therapeutics and RenovoRx, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Verve Therapeutics	0	2	6	0	2.75
RenovoRx	0	1	2	0	2.67

Verve Therapeutics currently has a consensus price target of $33.00, suggesting a potential upside of 401.52%. RenovoRx has a consensus price target of $8.50, suggesting a potential upside of 591.06%. Given RenovoRx’s higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe RenovoRx is more favorable than Verve Therapeutics.

Profitability

This table compares Verve Therapeutics and RenovoRx’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Verve Therapeutics	-1,701.70%	-39.33%	-30.92%
RenovoRx	N/A	-2,860.14%	-261.49%

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Verve Therapeutics and RenovoRx’s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Verve Therapeutics	$11.76 million	46.79	-$200.07 million	($3.12)	-2.11
RenovoRx	N/A	N/A	-$10.23 million	($1.01)	-1.22

RenovoRx has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Verve Therapeutics. Verve Therapeutics is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than RenovoRx, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

97.1% of Verve Therapeutics shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 3.1% of RenovoRx shares are held by institutional investors. 21.4% of Verve Therapeutics shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 9.0% of RenovoRx shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Volatility and Risk

Verve Therapeutics has a beta of 1.7, suggesting that its stock price is 70% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, RenovoRx has a beta of 1.04, suggesting that its stock price is 4% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Verve Therapeutics beats RenovoRx on 8 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Verve Therapeutics

Verve Therapeutics, Inc., a clinical stage genetic medicines company, engages in developing gene editing medicines for patients to treat cardiovascular diseases in the United States. The company's lead product candidate is VERVE-101, a single-course gene editing treatment that permanently turns off the PCSK9 gene in the liver; and VERVE-102, a product candidate that targets the PCSK9 gene for the treatment of HeFH. It engages in the development of ANGPTL3 program to permanently turn off the ANGPTL3 gene in the liver. It has a collaboration and license agreement with Beam Therapeutics Inc.; a development and option agreement with Acuitas Therapeutics, Inc.; and a Cas9 license agreement with The Broad Institute and the President and Fellows of Harvard College. The company was formerly known as Endcadia, Inc. and changed its name to Verve Therapeutics, Inc. in January 2019. Verve Therapeutics, Inc. was incorporated in 2018 and is headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

About RenovoRx

RenovoRx, Inc., a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, focuses on developing therapies for the treatment of solid tumors. Its lead product candidate is RenovoGem, a drug and device combination consisting of intra-arterial gemcitabine and RenovoCath that is in Phase III clinical trials for the locally advanced pancreatic cancer. The company has a research collaboration with Imugene Limited to deliver oncolytic virus therapy for the treatment of difficult-to-access tumors. The company was founded in 2009 and is headquartered in Los Altos, California.